Riverstone's Betrayal

Ten

Nightstripe heard the whispers the next morning; of Riverstone and something's wrong with her and should've happened sooner. He caught the suspicious gazes of other warriors as they caught his eye and looked away. He noticed the eerie stillness.

Pythoncry had not left the warrior's den, yet she sat awake as he came back into the den. Though she watched him with hidden suspicion, she still held a friendliness, and did not shrink back or walk off as he approached.

"Hey, Pythoncry," Nightstripe meowed nonthreateningly as he approached.

"Oh, hey, Nightstripe," Pythoncry replied. "Did you hear what happened?"

"Actually, that's what I wanted to know." Nightstripe sat down next to the tortoiseshell she-cat. "Every warrior I've seen today has been kind of standoffish towards me? I don't know."

"Well, ah..." Pythoncry looked awkwardly at her paws before taking a deep breath and facing Nightstripe again. "It's about your girlfriend. Or mate, or whatever. Word around the Clan is that she killed Flintstar."

-

For basically half the day, Riverstone hid in the corner of the warrior's den, curled up in her nest. She refused to leave, even when Viperstrike and Myrtlebranch both tried to coax her out. Sure, she'd killed the cruel leader of ViperClan, but she'd left them with an even worse deputy to become leader, and now she was going to feel awful about it all day, and maybe longer. Even if she had done it to protect her leader-

"Hey, Riverstone?"

A tiny feminine voice interrupted her thoughts. Riverstone looked up and into a pair of nervous, dark green eyes, her tortoiseshell fur lit from behind.

"Hmm?"

"Well, uh," Mosspaw began, shuffling her paws a bit. "Amberstar wants to see you."

"Oh, alright." Riverstone pushed herself to stand. This was the moment she was afraid of. "I'm coming. Where's Viperstrike?"

"He's outside," Mosspaw explained. "He told me to tell you."

"Right." Riverstone began to exit the den before stopping short beside the smaller she-cat. "By the way, thanks for letting me know."

"No problem?"

Riverstone smiled weakly before entering the clearing, heading towards Amberstar's den. She tried to ignore the curious or wary gazes of the cats around her as they busily went on their way.

As she approached the leader's den, she heard his tenor voice call out: "Come in, Riverstone."

Riverstone poked her head into the den, allowing the rest of her body to follow after a short mental sweep of the area. She didn't waste too much time in sitting down beside the leader, focusing on her paws.

"First, I just want to say that I'm somewhat glad you did what you did. Flintstar has been a scourge to every cat in every Clan."

Riverstone looked up in surprise, emerald eyes adjusting just enough to see the tiny, weak smile on Amberstar's face in the dim light.

"But that's not to say it wasn't wrong. A warrior is not supposed to kill other cats, and especially not in the way you did. Very soon, Blazescar is going to become the leader, and I trust her much less than I did Flintstar, rest his spirit in StarClan." Amberstar sighed, meeting her gaze. "So as much as I'd like to let you off, I'm going to have to punish you for your actions. You will be assisting Mosspaw in her duties, mainly moss collecting and elder care. You will be doing apprentice duties for the time until the next Gathering, so long as you don't do this again. I can trust you to be a loyal warrior, can't I?"